{"title":"A comprehensive look at the forest products industry’s economic contribution to the United States: Pre- and post-COVID analysis","authors":"Jagdish Poudel , Ram Dahal","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103440","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103440","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines the U.S. Forest products industry's economic performance in 2022 compared to pre-COVID-19 levels, highlighting its resilience amid pandemic disruptions. Despite a slight decline of 0.27 % in direct forest product industry jobs, the industry's total value-added increased by 14.46 %, with growth observed in labor income and gross output. However, the extent of changes varied across sectors: while paperboard container manufacturing, paper mills, and sawmills saw substantial value-added increases (23 %, 45.45 %, and 54.66 %, respectively), pulp mills, wood office furniture manufacturing, and stationery product manufacturing experienced declines (6 %, 12.5 %, and 3.4 %, respectively). These findings reveal the uneven changes within the industry and underscore the challenges faced by certain subsectors. Overall, the study reinforces the forest products industry's crucial role in supporting both regional and rural economies. The results provide valuable insights for policymakers and industry professionals, emphasizing the need for targeted support to enhance the sector's resilience and ensure its continued growth and economic contribution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103440"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143072568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effective communication about forests and trees: An analytical framework for communication among segmented audiences","authors":"Lena Riemann","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103429","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103429","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A vast amount of literature from communication science deals with the questions if and how communication can evoke changes in an audience. This is closely related to communicative persuasion and social influence. Based on audience-oriented approaches to media effectiveness, it is argued that in order to be effective, communication efforts have to match the desires and requirements of the audience. In this context, this paper proposes three conditions that must be met for a communication effect to occur: selection, understanding and acceptance of the information. Drawing on approaches from communication science and media effectiveness studies, variables that influence selection, understanding and acceptance are identified and an analytical framework for effective communication is proposed. Based on the framework, survey questions were developed and a survey representative for the German public was conducted in cooperation with Sinus Institute – a market research institute that groups the German public into ten sinus milieus based on common socio-psychological characteristics – to find out about forest-specific communication needs and p for each milieu. The empirical survey results were analyzed and together with already existing material about sinus milieus were fitted into the analytical framework, resulting in templates for effective communication about forest-related topics for each sinus milieu.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103429"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143072569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuta Kobayashi , Masayuki Sato , Kei Uchida , Akira S. Mori
{"title":"Misalignment between ecologically rapid and economically optimal forest restoration designs","authors":"Yuta Kobayashi , Masayuki Sato , Kei Uchida , Akira S. Mori","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103426","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103426","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Because the benefits of forest restoration take a long time to materialize, it is desirable to design restoration projects with intergenerational equity in mind, particularly considering the perspectives and feelings of the generation bearing the costs. We conducted a contingent valuation survey with a payment card among the Japanese public focusing on forest restoration in Shiretoko National Park to estimate individual discount rates for carbon and biodiversity recovery. Specifically, we presented two forest restoration scenarios with varying recovery times and asked for their willingness to pay (WTP) for each. From these differences in WTP, the individual discount rates were estimated at 1.17 %. Using the estimated discount rates, cost-benefit analyses were performed on the simulation results of 31 different restoration scenarios with varying planting densities and number of species planted. We also performed the same analyses using commonly used discount rates of 4.0 % and 6.0 %. The results showed a divergence between the ecologically and economically optimal restoration scenarios, and that the economically optimal restoration scenario varied depending on the discount rate. This highlights the need for careful consensus building that combines ecological and economic perspectives in forest ecosystem management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103426"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143035249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xinfei Li , Chang Yu , Zhaohua Wang , Chenlu Tao , Hao Li , Gang Diao , Baodong Cheng
{"title":"Implications of China's foreign waste ban on the global waste paper trade networks for circular economy and sustainability","authors":"Xinfei Li , Chang Yu , Zhaohua Wang , Chenlu Tao , Hao Li , Gang Diao , Baodong Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103428","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103428","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To achieve the sustainable development goal, China banned the import of unclassified waste paper in 2017, known as China's import Ban (CIB) to influence the global waste paper trade. Here, we construct the global waste paper trade networks (GWPTN) to observe network characteristics from 2006 to 2020 and use Difference-in-Differences (DID) to test effects of CIB. Results show that CIB reduces the scale, transmission efficiency and stability of GWPTN and changes the network characteristics of major trading countries as network nodes. By constructing DID models with degree and Strength Centrality as dependent variables, it can be seen that although waste paper exporters affected by CIB have expanded export channels, the total amount of exports still shows a downward trend due to other waste paper importers being unable to replace China's position in GWPTN; Meanwhile, importers other than China import more waste paper, especially Asian importers close to China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103428"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143035250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diana Cichecki, Hannes Weinbrenner, Stephanie Bethmann
{"title":"Becoming a forester. Exploring forest management students' habitus in the making","authors":"Diana Cichecki, Hannes Weinbrenner, Stephanie Bethmann","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103407","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103407","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Foresters in Germany are facing extreme challenges due to climate change and social change, struggling to adapt their management strategies. In this context, our study explores the professional socialization of forest management students at Universities of Applied Sciences in Germany: How is a professional habitus formed during forestry education, and how well does this equip students to address ecological and social transformations? Through qualitative in-depth interviews, we investigate how students experience their education and interpret their future roles and tasks. Using a praxeological framework informed by Bourdieu's concept of habitus, we explore how higher education shapes students' ways of perceiving, feeling, and belonging.</div><div>Findings from our analysis include students' hierarchical positioning in relation to a lay public, their objectivist perspective on knowledge, their identification as part of the “forest family”, and mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion that produce a strong sense of group cohesion. Despite inner heterogeneity in the student body, adaptation pressure is high, especially for those who envision a career as a forester. The students themselves see two main challenges for their professional future: social pressures from a lay public and an unpredictable future due to climate change. We argue that their problem definitions actually point to underlying transformation challenges.</div><div>Our findings are in resonance with recent debates on forestry's professional culture, its implicit foundations, and its challenges with respect to change. They also point to a potential role of educational institutions to foster diversity in the student body and promote transformation competencies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103407"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Three decades of forest policy studies in the countries in the former socialist countries of Europe: A review","authors":"Ekaterina Makrickiene , Vilis Brukas , Ivana Živojinović , Zuzana Dobšinská","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103398","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103398","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Since the late 1980s, the transformative changes in former socialist societies have provided a unique context for forest policy research. However, a comprehensive review of this body of scholarship has been lacking. This paper addresses this gap by by reviewing forest policy studies for 19 countries of the ex-socialist realm. We identified 285 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, published in 1990–2024. Bibliometric and narrative analysis revealed several positive trends including rapidly growing number of publications, and between other aspects, improving gender balance in the authorship. There is an evident increase of the research capacity as the domestic contributors clearly prevail over the foreign authors since 2015. The output, measured bythe number of published studies, differs remarkably among the analysed countries. The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia lead in publication numbers, while Montenegro, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belarus rank at the bottom.</div><div>“State forestry” (42 % of the total count) and “private forestry” (30 %) are the two prevailing thematic hubs among the sampled studies. Our review confirms substantial influence of ideological and institutional legacies from the socialist period with such outcomes as the dominating power of state actors, prevalence of strong regulatory approaches and limited decision space for private forest owners. Important topics for future research include, among others, deeper sociological understanding of forest restitution and of reform processes in state forestry; red tape and corruption in the forest sector, trust between private and state actors; better balancing of regulatory, economic and informational instruments; and national accommodations of the forest-related EU policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103398"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing actor-centered power theory through actor typology: Insights from community-based conservation in China","authors":"Jiacheng Zhao , Pei Zhang , Feng Tian , Weiping Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103425","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103425","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study addresses a critical limitation of Actor-centered Power (ACP) theory in Community-based Conservation (CBC) initiatives: its tendency to rely on predefined roles for actors, which can obscure the complex dynamics within communities. By integrating ACP theory with Scharpf's actor typology, this research aims to provide a framework that better reflects the nuanced power relationships both within communities and between communities and external actors. Using a comparative case study approach, we analyze three CBC programs in China to test this framework. Our findings underscore two key contributions. First, the combined framework allows for a more precise identification and analysis of power relations, revealing how internal and external actor roles shape community cohesion and collective action. Second, we highlight the significance of informational power in fostering communities' development as collective actors, thereby enhancing CBC effectiveness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103425"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142989530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finnish forest owners' intentions to participate in cooperative forest management","authors":"Liina Häyrinen, Janne Kaseva, Eija Pouta","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103420","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2024.103420","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In addressing global environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and the degradation of vulnerable ecosystems, the role of forest owners and their cooperation is essential. Despite the evident potential of cooperation, the interaction among forest owners remains an underexplored area, particularly concerning the factors that influence forest owners' willingness to cooperate. This study focuses on various forms of forest owner cooperation, ranging from shared goals to the joint implementation of management actions. We apply the theory of planned behavior to understand forest owners' intentions to cooperate based on their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and related beliefs. Using survey data from eastern Finland, the results demonstrate that a forest owners' intentions to cooperate are predominantly influenced by their attitudes. These attitudes towards cooperation are largely shaped by a set of behavioral beliefs that are primarily environmentally oriented. The findings suggest that emphasizing the environmental benefits of cooperation can be a key strategy in persuading forest owners to cooperate.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103420"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142967769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forest disturbances change psychological ownership among traditional private forest owners in North Rhine Westphalia","authors":"Leonie Wagner , Franziska Miederhoff","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103422","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103422","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Forests in Germany are experiencing crises due to climate change, dry summers, storms, and widespread damage from pests and diseases. By understanding how private forest owners experience ownership and forest disturbances due to climate change, this study provides valuable insights to better meet the needs of forest owners with family tradition and inform policy decisions and implementations. The literature on forest disturbances primarily concentrates on the economic significance for the forest industry and its ecological consequences. Although studies have shown that severe storms and windthrows alter forest owners' identities and lead to shifts in awareness and emotional responses, the psychological effects of significant forest disturbances remain unexplored. The impact of forest disturbances on forest owners' psychological ownership and subsequent management responses has yet to be investigated, leaving a significant research gap. In this study, we show (a) that different dimensions and manifestations of psychological ownership can be observed among forest owners and (b) that forest disturbances influence all three pathways of forest owners' psychological ownership in various ways, resulting in changes of the motives of psychological ownership. Connectedness to the forest and intergenerational forest family tradition are essential aspects of forest-related identities challenged by disturbances. However, traditional forest owners integrate disturbances into their narrations and counterbalance the loss of control through further knowledge acquisition and greater self-investment. We suggest peer-to-peer learning and communication to foster psychological ownership and address diverse knowledge, values, and identities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103422"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142967771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antoni Ungirwalu , J.R. Mansoben , Yubelince Y. Runtuboi , Sepus M. Fatem , Mariana H. Peday , Jonni Marwa , Ahmad Maryudi
{"title":"The fall of the kings: Power relations and dynamics in Papua's indigenous community in forest resource management","authors":"Antoni Ungirwalu , J.R. Mansoben , Yubelince Y. Runtuboi , Sepus M. Fatem , Mariana H. Peday , Jonni Marwa , Ahmad Maryudi","doi":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103424","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.forpol.2025.103424","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tribal leaders in Papua had been positioned as both cultural symbols and real decision-making leaders, but they have lost their power over natural resource management and forests. Using the case of nutmeg management by the tribal Baham-Matta community, we present changes in the power constellations within the local social structures, in which the Kings (<em>Patuans</em>), the highest tribal leaders, have increasingly been unable to rule their people. In this research, we mainly employed the theoretical framework of Actor-centered Power, complemented by the Sequential Power Analysis approach, centered on historical timelines to better grasp the power contestation over time. We found that the <em>Patuans</em> have lost their key power sources/elements, a blend of dominant information, incentives/disincentives, and coercion stemming from the culturally entrenched beliefs held about their spiritual strengths, knowledge and skills in natural resource management and monopolistic contacts with traders. At the same time, community members have gained new power by accessing direct contacts with external traders, enabling them to act according to their own will. The change in the power configuration regarding nutmeg management has been driven by changes in the broader structural (external) context. Specifically, we argue that the introduction of new tenure and administration systems by the state created new social and power relations within the tribal community. The current tenure reform initiatives such as social forestry policies need to consider traditional systems such as nutmeg management, which constitute a key source of livelihood for the tribal community.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12451,"journal":{"name":"Forest Policy and Economics","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 103424"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142967770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}